Yell.com joins the world of apps- no more JR Hartley?

The days of JR Hartley are long gone. So welcome Day V Lately, Yell’s reinvention of the classic Yellow Pages advert. This time, the latest advert is to promote their Yell app, which gives you all the features of Yell.com, coupled with the location nous of your iPhone.

We don’t think the latest advert has anywhere near the charm of JR Hartley- how old exactly is Day V Lately?

The app itself does a good job of featuring a lot of places, especially more old-fashioned shops and restaurants that haven’t pushed themselves onto web-based listings and review sites.

The listings system is a bit odd; fancy-dress shops and chinese food get pride of place in the main listings, but there aren’t any search filters or categories under the restaurant grouping to differentiate between a gastro pub and a Maccy Dees…

Yell have even released another app, Yell Labs, for iPhone 4 and 3GS users, that will overlay Yell’s listings on your camera’s view-finder. We love a bit of augmented reality (AR) at Recombu, but sadly, Yell Labs is very much still experiment- the listing tags seem to spin wildly around, and listing details are a bit sparse compared to Google’s and others own AR efforts. No closing or opening times, and no connection between the Yell app and Google Maps, just Yell’s own version that doesn’t have the navigational skills.

One last app; Yell for Bikes. This app complements the rash of “Boris bikes” dotted around London, with a map literally bursting with bike locations across the city. The app keeps you as up-to-date as possible, so you’ll be able to find a bike on the way home. The latest update adds favourite markers and a ride timer, so you’ll know how much to pay at the end.